FIFA 12 | So You Want A… Goalkeeper (Winter Update)

As it does around this time every year, EA has released a transfer update for FIFA 12. This patch updates the squads to include all the winter transfers, but also updates players’ OVR and potential in line with their performances so far this season. That of course means all the tables on this site need to be updated as well. What I have decided to do is keep the old ones in place for anyone who hasn’t (or can’t) downloaded the update yet and make fresh tables for the updated squads. So, first up are goalkeepers.

The first thing you’ll notice on the table below is that there are a lot of new faces, and some familiar names are missing. Gone are Vid Belec (new potential: 77), Thibaut Courtois (too good for these tables now with a new OVR of 76) and, perhaps most surprisingly, Alex Smithies (new potential: 77). However, in their place come some really exciting prospects. For the first time there are some serious talents at good prices – whereas on the previous table the best (affordable) GK was Belec with a potential of 85, now you can get one with a potential of 86 or even 88!

So, here are my recommendations:

Nicola Leali

Stefanos Kapino

Nikolay Zabolotnyy

Bursting on to the scene is Nicola Leali. His previous potential was a strong 79 (with OVR 61), but now he has a stunning potential of 88. He’s only got 2 years left on his Brescia contract, so get him quick or his wages will rise when he signs a new contract.

Stefanos Kapino is another player to receive a big potential boost. His potential is now 86 and he’s going for relative peanuts at £3.4m.

Finally, the bargain of the list is Nikolay Zabolotnyy. £2m is ridiculously cheap for the prospect of getting an 84 rated GK. Move fast to avoid a price hike.

As always, cheaper does not necessarily mean worse; Alphonse Aréola is younger, better and almost £1.5m cheaper than Rémi Pillot, and has a higher potential than him. The best thing to do is to make sure you keep checking these players, as their prices and OVR may fluctuate radically after over time. If you’ve had any experience of this (especially if a player’s price drops), please post it in the comments.

Please bear in mind that these figures may not be exactly the same on your game. These stats are taken from my own personal experiences, but are likely to be very similar to those on your own game.

Now, on to the new and complete list:

Pos

Name

OVR

Pot.

Age

Cost (£)

Wages (£)

Club

Foot

Weak foot *

Skills *

Specialities/traits

Notes

GK

Nicola Leali

67

88

18

5,500,000

20,000

Brescia

Right

2

1

GK

Stefanos Kapino

71

86

17

3,400,000

10,000

Panathinaikos

Right

3

1

GK

Nikolay Zabolotnyy

69

84

21

2,000,000

10,000

Spartak Moskva

Right

3

1

GK

Yann Sommer

72

83

22

4,100,000

15,000

FC Basel

Right

3

1

GK

Kim Seung Gyu

66

83

20

5,500,000

7,000

Ulsan Hyundai

Right

3

1

GK

Bill Hamid

66

82

20

1,400,000

7,000

D.C. United

Right

2

1

GK

Jeroen Zoet

69

82

20

1,800,000

9,000

RKC Waalwijk

Right

3

1

On loan from PSV

GK

Scott Loach

71

82

23

2,200,000

10,000

Watford

Right

3

1

GK

Alphonse Aréola

65

81

18

1,100,000

6,000

PSG

Right

2

1

GK

Renan Rocha

73

81

24

2,500,000

15,000

Atl. Paranaense

Right

2

1

GK

Fraser Forster

72

81

23

3,400,000

15,000

Celtic

Right

3

1

On loan from Newcastle Utd

GK

Koen Casteels

64

81

19

4,100,000

7,000

1899 Hoffenheim

Right

2

1

GK

Mika

72

81

20

4,300,000

15,000

SL Benfica

Left

2

1

GK

Joseph Hu

56

80

17

775,000

8,000

H. Verona

Right

2

1

GK

Richard Sánchez

59

80

17

1,100,000

8,000

FC Dallas

Right

2

1

GK

Rafael

67

80

22

1,200,000

9,000

Cruzeiro

Left

2

1

GK long throw

GK

Joris Delle

69

80

21

1,600,000

8,000

FC Metz

Right

2

1

GK

Grzegorz Sandomierski

68

80

21

1,600,000

6,000

J. Białystok

Left

3

1

Strength

On loan from KRC Genk

GK

Frank Fielding

70

80

23

2,100,000

10,000

Derby County

Right

3

1

GK

Samir Ujkani

70

80

22

2,400,000

15,000

Novara

Right

2

1

GK

Simone Colombi

63

80

20

2,500,000

4,000

C. Stabia

Right

1

1

On loan from Atalanta

GK

Rémi Pillot

62

80

20

2,500,000

5,000

AS Nancy

Right

2

1

GK

Andrea Consigli

73

80

24

2,700,000

15,000

Atalanta

Right

3

1

GK

Kasper Schmeichel

73

80

24

2,900,000

15,000

Leicester City

Right

2

1

GK

Renan Ribeiro

73

80

21

3,900,000

15,000

Atl. Mineiro

Right

2

1

GK

Neto

73

80

21

3,900,000

15,000

Fiorentina

Right

2

1

GK long throw

Liked this? Get exclusive rewards from FIFA Scouting Tips on Patreon!

Related

Comments 38

Kim Seung Gyu is 5.5m in the first transfer window but I suggest waiting until the first season is over because a massive crash happens, he goes for 1.5m and I usually get him for around 1.9m his wages increase to 10K p/w but for a keeper with that potential it’s crazy.

Also, a good young CB is Gavin Gunning plays for Dundee United, 65 overall and reaches an 80 quite cheap (1.2m) aswell.

Great tip! I love finding players whose price drops for no reason, you can snap up some real bargains. A few others I’ve noticed are Koen Casteels, Jetro Willems, Jack Robinson and Chris Gadi. Gives you a chance to get some players with great potential that you may not have been able to afford before 🙂

Good suggestion about Gunning, he’s another one whose price, when compared to potential, is very low indeed.

Goalkeepers can generally keep growing later into their careers than outfield players. He has 12 points of growth until his potential. If he stops growing at 29/30 ish (6/7 years), then he only has to grow about 1-2 points per season to reach his potential, so I don’t think there’s any need to panic.

Sometimes players have a burst of growth later on in your CM. I’ve had players grow slow later on, grow slow early on, or just grow steadily throughout. Sometimes they’re growing well, then one season they’ll only grow 1 point, then the next season they’ll be back to normal. I’d say stick with him, he’ll turn out good 🙂

That’s still incredible! I assume it’s because his OVR isn’t that high when you consider his age and his potential, so he has lots of growing to do. Therefore he will grow very quickly, as you’ve found out 🙂 how is he doing now?

That’s a good tip, they’ve got some great looking players (especially Alan and Hinteregger). There are a lot of underrated teams in FIFA that people don’t often use such as RSC Anderlecht or Flamengo – they’re just overflowing with talent!

I used to think it was a bad idea being teams like that because they can’t attract the best players (their leagues aren’t prestigious enough), but now I think actually it’s a good idea – it makes you think outside the box and buy players that most people overlook. It makes you vary your approach and buy players from similarly ‘unprestigious’ leagues who nevertheless have amazing potential.

Crikey, that’s a difficult question. If we’re talking in terms of potential, then I think possibly Ross Barkley. He’s got speed, strength, and a great mind for the game. He can pick a pass and read the game really well, and his shooting isn’t too bad either. He’s got potential 84 and only costs £2.5m.

As for just plain best player for under £3m, I really don’t know, that’s too broad a question. Although you can get Nesta (OVR 84) for £1.9m, but he’s 35.

That’s true, although I don’t know if experience counts for much in FIFA. Obviously it’s vital in real life, but there’s no “know-how” stat or “experience” stat for players in FIFA. However, you can get some really good older players for much less money than their younger counterparts.

Well to be honest I’d go for the easy option and get John Smith. He’s always a free agent at the start of every career (he’s the default GK in the arena), he’s OVR 77 and aged 27 I think. If you feel like that’s dishonest and you want to buy a player, you could go for any of the following:

OK, just make sure you loan them to clubs that will take them. When you get an offer click stall, then go to the transfer screen and look up that team’s goalkeepers. If Leali or Kapino (whoever you’re trying to loan) will be their best keeper, accept the offer. If not, reject it and try again. It’s vital that they get as much game time as possible if they’re to reach their potential.

I wish I hadn’t done it now though, I use Man Utd for my career, and they have changed A. Young, Nani and Valencia, who were all R/L Wingers, into R/L Midfielders, which messed up my formation… ah well, time for some re-strategising 🙂 (Sorry, I have gone abit off topic now lol)

No problem. Also, it probably hasn’t messed it up – their positions say LM/RM, but their stats may be better suited to wing play anyway. And there’s nothing wrong with a bit of re-strategising, could be a chance to bring in a new player or two from my lists 😛

Are you playing on PC or PS3? Because if you are, you can uninstall the update (I think you can on both; you certainly can on the PC).

Damn you Vid Belec. I have a feeling his stats were updated in December when I last updated the roster for my career. I’ve only been able to get him up to 79 at age 28 and I was wondering what was going on. At least I got him over his 77 potential anyway… Time to put in the youth goalkeeper!

Ha! If you chose ‘download latest’ from the squad options when starting your CM then that can happen. EA regularly update players’ OVR and potential if you download the latest squads. This is why I always choose ‘current customized’. At least that way I know what a player’s potential will be for sure when I start.

That’s good that you got him to 79 though. That’s also a perfect situation, because now you have a strong reserve keeper to fill in for your scouted one if he gets injured or tired. Just play him enough that he doesn’t complain about game time and your youth keeper should grow well. How is your youth keeper looking now anyway?

Haha yeah I like to use “download latest” so I get the latest overalls and potentials. It actually worked out pretty well because I was getting players who were over their previous potentials, but Vid Belec was the exception haha. Oh I guess Boilesen too who I’ve only gotten to 84. That actually leads me to a question… I was trading for players who were over their previous potential (e.g., I traded for Wijnaldum when he was 85 but I thought his potential was 84, or Hong Chul who was 81 instead of his previous 79 potential). So I guess their potentials had already been updated and the computer maxed them out. But will the computer ever develop a player over their potential? Or is that only possible if they are on our team?

The youth keeper was pretty good, from Brazil, 6’4″, potential 83-89 with a 68 starting overall at age 16. But you know what, after you updated the winter rosters, I decided to start a new career haha. Moving from Serie A back to the Barclays Premier League. I feel like the PL teams have more names announced and more miscellaneous comments from the commentators which makes it more interesting for me.

Still, having an LB who is 84 instead of 86 isn’t really much to complain about 😛

I am almost certain that players on AI teams never exceed their potential, and that it only happens on your team. On my pre-patch CM (where growth was very fast) AI players reached their potential by 24 ish and then didn’t grow any more, which suggests to me that AI teams’ players never exceed their potential unless you buy them.

Damn, that keeper sounded really good! I understand what you’re saying about commentary and realism, but I prefer to do CMs with obscure teams and build them up. I suppose because I hardly ever actually play games I don’t mind the lack of commentary. Which team have you chosen?

I ended up going with Newcastle United. Good players in their mid-20s I can develop and eventually replace with youth players, budget not too big or small, cool stadium, and I like their orange away uniforms haha. Have added Doumbia, Reus, and Tomas Kalas so far, and I think I’m about to add Nainggolan. Debating if I should go with a lower CM to develop instead though. Also debating if I want to replace GK Tim Krul with Yann Sommer. They both only have 83 potential, but I like Sommer’s physical stats. He’s the only keeper I remember seeing with Jumping in the 90s.

Are you struggling to scout good players?

Get my scouting cheat sheet to find out exactly where to find youth superstars!

No matter what player type you're looking for, my cheat sheet will help you scout amazing players. Just enter your name and email address and I'll send it straight to you. I'll also add you to me newsletter, keeping you up to date on the latest guides and tutorials to help you find better players. No spam, ever.